Balaam and his 4th Prophecy

Personally, when I read this event in the Bible, I do really feel very assured of God’s enduring love for His children, and of course, for me.

Besides the many battles that God fought for His people recorded in the Old Testament, this is another display of God’s power and love in action.

Bible Passage: Numbers 24

Initially I thought Balaam was a prophet of God.

I thought that he was a prophet of God being blinded by his greed for wealth, and he went on ahead to do Balak’s bidding.

But when we read other parts of the Bible, we can gather a clearer picture of whether was Balaam a prophet of God or not.

Consider the following verses from other parts of the Bible:

Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to

trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among

the congregation of the Lord.

Numbers 31:16

A prophet of God would never cause the people of Israel to trespass against the Lord’s commandments.

And then in the times when Israel was under the leadership of Joshua, we read of Balaam’s name being mentioned again,

The children of Israel also killed with the sword Balaam the son of Beor,

the soothsayer, among those who were killed by them.

Joshua 13:22

Over here, Balaam was called a soothsayer, and the children of Israel killed him. A prophet of God was never called a soothsayer.

So from these 2 places recorded in the Bible, I learnt that Balaam was never a prophet of the God of Heaven.

So even though Balaam was a heathen prophet, God was still in control of the whole situation by making use of Balaam to proclaim blessings instead of cursing, and protected the Israelites from the evil plans of Balak.

And through the prophecies proclaimed, in summary, it was all about God’s fervent love for His children and His unbroken promises to them.

What touches me a lot within the prophecies is in v9,

‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion;

   And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’

   “Blessed is he who blesses you,

   And cursed is he who curses you.”

This promise was exactly what God had promised Abraham recorded in Genesis 12:3.

For us who had been baptized into Jesus, we belong to God; and when we are God’s children, we will be protected by Him who is Almighty.

Therefore we have nothing to fear, for God reminded us what the Israelites were to Him:

“He found him in a desert land,

And in the howling waste of a wilderness;

He encircled him, He cared for him,

He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.”

Deuteronomy 32:10 (NASB)

And…

For thus says the Lord of hosts, “After glory He has sent Me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.

Zechariah 2:8 (NASB)

The physical nation of Israel was like the apple/pupil of the eye of God, this is indeed a very intimate description in the relationship between God and the nation of Israel.

What more us who are the spiritual Israelites (Gal. 3:29)? Are we not also the apple of His eye?

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

            Romans 8:31

May all praise and glory be unto Jesus Christ our Lord.

Shalom.